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- All HBS Web (211)
- Faculty Publications (2)
James H. Rand, Jr.
Rand grew his father’s small ledger company into a multinational conglomerate that made a wide array of office products, including filing systems, typewriters and adding machines. Under Rand’s leadership, company sales grew 100 fold from $5 million in 1927 to $500... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
C. Peter McColough
Working at Xerox for over three decades, McColough was instrumental in leveraging the company’s unique technology and product line. His sales and marketing efforts helped to establish the company as a worldwide leader in office equipment. As CEO, he expanded the firm’s... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Frederick L. Maytag
As the founder of the Maytag Company, Maytag was renowned for his financial reliability and technical innovation. The company introduced several models of washing machines with great success, including the Gyrofoam model which combined an aluminum tub with washing... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Alex Manoogian
Arriving in the United States with $50 in his pockets, Manoogian went on to found a Fortune 500 company and revolutionize the home furnishing industry. Though Masco had its roots in automobile parts production, Manoogian’s fortune was made with the introduction of the... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Walter J. Kohler
Kohler is responsible for many plumbing innovations that are part of everyday life. He invented the one-piece, double shell and built-in bath. His plumbing innovations became standard elements in the burgeoning construction industry. View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Peter F. Hurst
In 1940, Hurst, an engineer by training, invented two new products that were critical to the growing aviation industry – detachable, reusable hose fittings and self-sealing couplings. As aviation took hold during World War II, these safety products became crucial, but... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Stephen D. Hassenfeld
Hassenfeld built Hasbro Toys into the fastest-growing, best-managed and most profitable company in the toy industry. Hassenfeld increased profitability from 1979 to 1986 by 85% annually. Only two Fortune 500 companies have achieved such a high rate of growth in... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Ohio C. Barber
Barber’s own match manufacturing company consolidated with three other firms in 1881 to form the Diamond Match Company, controlling about 85% of the trade in the industry. Diamond Match produced the first modern automatic match machine. In the 1890s, Barber developed... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Herman G. Fisher
In 1938, Fisher introduced a new toy named “Snoopy Sniffer,” which was an instant hit with the public. By the end of the 1930s, Fisher-Price, the first toy company licensed to make Disney toys, was producing over 2 million action toys a year for annual sales of $1.6... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
George Eastman
Eastman invented film and the inexpensive camera, and in turn created the multi-billion dollar photography industry. Eastman acquired all the photographic paper producers in America and secured the motion picture film market for Eastman Kodak, eventually controlling 75... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Alonzo G. Decker, Jr.
Recognizing the potential of the home market, Decker virtually invented the “do-it-yourself” business by developing cordless tools in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. He moved the family company from a 100% focus on business-to-business tools to one focused on the... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Bert S. Cross
Cross spent over 40 years with 3M and was known as a “builder of businesses.” He successfully commercialized several new product lines including Scotchlite and Thermo-Fax copying machines. During his tenure, 3M expanded its international footprint, invested heavily in... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Richard T. Crane, Jr.
With Crane at the helm, The Crane Company enjoyed the greatest expansion in its history. Crane grew the company into a firm with factories, branch houses, sales offices, and exhibition rooms in 200 cities throughout the world including a workforce of 20,000 employees. View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Charles L. Coughlin
For 35 years Coughlin served as CEO of Briggs and Stratton – a giant manufacturer of small gasoline engines. From 1950 to 1970, Coughlin generated a return on assets performance that ranked Briggs as one of the top 50 U.S. businesses. View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Charles Edward Wilson
Under Wilson’s leadership, a totally new organizational structure was put in place at GE, one that was a decentralized collection of six autonomous divisions. Wilson also began a controversial aggressive anti-union campaign at GE that approached employees with a “take... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
George Westinghouse
Westinghouse helped to revolutionize the power industry with his electric company. A prolific inventor, Westinghouse figured out a way to adapt Europe’s alternating current technology to American needs, creating two-phase adapters that allowed people to use the new... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Milton Bradley
Bradley created a business that has become synonymous with fun, family games. Initially marketing British games in the US, Bradley went on to patent a variety of new games including Zoetrope or “Wheel of Life” and Historoscope, a kaleidoscope device that displayed... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Wilbert L. Smith
After leaving behind the first family company, Smith-Premier Typewriter Company, Wilbert and his brothers formed the entity that later became L.C. Smith Corona. Under Wilbert Smith’s leadership, the company re-engineered their product, capitalizing on improvements made... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
William B. Rayburn
Rayburn went from service station operator to CEO in a 35-year career with Snap-On. He presided over Snap-On’s impressive growth period achieving 52% market share, becoming the world’s largest independent manufacturer and distributor of small hand tools. Under his... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods
Robert A. Pritzker
A talented engineer, Pritzker's best asset was his ability to take an ailing industrial company and turn into a highly profitable enterprise. Throughout his career, Pritzker revived about 60 companies, all of which were purchased by his brother Jay. These businesses... View Details
Keywords: Fabricated Goods